stub
1 Americannoun
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stubs
plural
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a short projecting part.
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a short remaining piece, as of a pencil, candle, or cigar.
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(in a checkbook, receipt book, etc.) the inner end of each leaf, for keeping a record of the content of the part filled out and torn away.
-
the returned portion of a ticket.
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the end of a fallen tree, shrub, or plant left fixed in the ground; stump.
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something having a short, blunt shape, especially a short-pointed, blunt pen.
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something having the look of incomplete or stunted growth, as a horn of an animal.
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Bridge. a part-score.
verb (used with object)
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stubs,
present (3rd person singular)
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stubbed,
past participle, past
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stubbing
present participle
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to strike accidentally against a projecting object.
I stubbed my toe against the step.
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to extinguish the burning end of (a cigarette or cigar) by crushing it against a solid object (often followed byout ).
He stubbed out the cigarette in the ashtray.
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to clear of stubs, as land.
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to dig up by the roots; grub up (roots).
adjective
noun
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a short piece remaining after something has been cut, removed, etc
a cigar stub
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the residual piece or section of a receipt, ticket, cheque, etc
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the part of a cheque, postal order, receipt, etc, detached and retained as a record of the transaction Also called (in Britain) counterfoil
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any short projection or blunted end
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the stump of a tree or plant
verb
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to strike (one's toe, foot, etc) painfully against a hard surface
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(usually foll by out) to extinguish (a cigarette or cigar) by pressing the end against a surface
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to clear (land) of stubs
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to dig up (the roots) of (a tree or bush)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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stubsimple
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stubssimple
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have stubbedperfect
-
has stubbedperfect
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am stubbingprogressive
-
are stubbingprogressive
-
is stubbingprogressive
-
have been stubbingperfect progressive
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has been stubbingperfect progressive
Past
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stubbedsimple
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had stubbedperfect
-
was stubbingprogressive
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were stubbingprogressive
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had been stubbingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of stub1
First recorded before 1000; Middle English noun stubb(e), Old English stybb, stubb, stebb “tree stump”; cognate with Middle Low German, Middle Dutch stubbe, Old Norse stubbi; akin to Old Norse stūfr “stump”; the verb is derivative of the noun
Origin of stub2
First recorded in 1705–15; special use of stub 1
Explanation
The small remainder of something is a stub. If you sharpen your favorite pencil obsessively, soon you'll be left with just a stub. Anything that's leftover or unusually short can be a stub, from the ticket stub you're handed in the theater to your dog's little stub of a tail. As a verb, stub most often means "strike painfully against something," and it's toes that you most often stub: "Put your shoes on before you run around in the yard, or you'll stub your toe again!"
Vocabulary lists containing stub
A Good Kind of Trouble
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How I Became a Ghost
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Milkweed
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
It wasn't until 2021 that her killer was brought to justice after the cigarette stub recovered from her flat proved crucial.
From BBC ● Jun. 26, 2026
You can look at your latest pay stub and see your year-to-date tax withholding and your year-to-date retirement contributions, and think about whether switching to post-tax contributions would make a difference.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 25, 2026
Now I stub my toe, I’m limping for three weeks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 13, 2026
When you touch a hot pan, stub your toe, or bump your head, your nervous system instantly delivers an “Ow!” that prompts you to pull back before more damage occurs.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 10, 2025
The big dog was back up on his feet now, wagging his stub tail again and licking the tears off Arliss’s face with his pink tongue.
From "Old Yeller" by Fred Gipson
Instead, I found an option to upload pay stubs manually.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 11, 2026
If one AI company stubs its toe, investors can expect other AI companies to say “ow.”
From Barron's ● Jun. 4, 2026
They’ll also have to include documentation of all household bills and expenses, showing how much they do or don’t contribute personally, as well as financial documents such as bank statements and any pay stubs.
From Salon ● Apr. 29, 2026
The Archive Room is painted blue and filled with Disney parks memorabilia he’s collected over the years including his ticket stubs, which are safely stored in a fillable glass lamp.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 15, 2026
The candles were down to stubs, so Arya changed them out.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
Acute pain acts as a warning signal, starting when injured tissue, such as a stubbed toe, sends messages through the spinal cord to the brain.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 27, 2026
And the expressive Garfield can convey water-eyed empathy so deftly that you know Tobias would be laid low if Almut so much as stubbed her toe on the leg of a coffee table.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 10, 2024
Simon Bennett, a 65-year-old semi-retired writer from Pontefract, shrugs off a suspected case of trench foot as if he had stubbed his toe.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2024
But now, it’s as if the room is on fire: The threat of a stubbed toe still exists, but moving slowly and cautiously risks even greater peril.
From New York Times ● Sep. 22, 2022
That just before he went and stubbed his toe, I was actually floating?
From "Root Magic" by Eden Royce
Maresca sent on Cole Palmer for the England forward's first appearance in two months after an injury-plagued spell that included fracturing his toe after stubbing it on a door.
From Barron's ● Dec. 3, 2025
So one of my recent favorites was, explain how stubbing my toe in the fourth grade taught me about adversity and why I want to be a neurosurgeon.
From New York Times ● Aug. 18, 2023
After busting a big toe by stubbing it on her coffee table, Burke never goes barefoot.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 30, 2022
During an era where patience can be in short supply at the FBS-level, Pitt has stuck with Narduzzi while he’s fielded teams that have flirted with a major breakthrough while also stubbing their toes repeatedly.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 22, 2021
That’s why the pointless, toe- stubbing battle continued to rage.
From "Tangerine" by Edward Bloor
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